PUEBLO, Colo. – After a non-conference meeting in the November, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs and Colorado State-Pueblo will meet again for an RMAC contest tonight at 7:30 p.m., in Massari Arena. The Mountain Lions (6-9, 5-5 RMAC) and ThunderWolves (10-5, 8-2 RMAC) are both coming off of wins last night against New Mexico Highlands and MSU Denver, respectively.
CSU-Pueblo won the first meeting of the season in Pueblo with an 83-61 decision on Nov. 18. The ThunderWolves are undefeated at home with a 6-0 record and remained perfect with last night's 89-70 win against MSU Denver.
UCCS struggled at the free throw line in that initial meeting with the ThunderWolves with 56 percent, but has shot 71 percent at the line since the winter break. The Mountain Lions shot a season-high 85 percent last night in a 98-88 win at New Mexico Highlands in the first road victory of the season.
Padiet Wang scored 27 points last night in the top scoring performance for a Mountain Lion in the conference season, and went six-of-eight at the three-point line. UCCS shot 65 percent at the three-point line last night against the Cowboys, in the second performance greater than 30 percent this month. The Mountain Lions have improved their three-point percentage by 0.55 percent to 37.3 in the last three games.
The UCCS defense will face its second strong offense in an eight-day span with CSU-Pueblo's 84.8 points per game. The Mountain Lions took on the top scoring team in the conference last season in Fort Lewis, and held the Skyhawks to nine points below their season average at the time.
All five of the ThunderWolves starters are averaging 10 or more points per game, led by the team's newest starter in Mark Williams. He is averaging 14.3 points per game and has earned the start in the last two games at Black Hills State last Saturday and against MSU Denver last night.
Charlie Botnick and Mac Buckley will call the action on the UCCS Athletic Network tonight. The game can be seen through the UCCS Stretch Internet portal, and live audio will be available on the team's Facebook and Twitter pages.
